


Free of Charge

by Tujima



Series: Time for me is short, Siha, but any I have is yours to take [1]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 13:09:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18778927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tujima/pseuds/Tujima
Summary: How do you deal with a break-up? Head to Illium to track down a trained assassin, of course!





	Free of Charge

Even though her grandmother had always taught her to be strong, to roll with the punches and keep a smile on her face, Abernathy was finding that difficult at the moment. Heading down to Freedom’s Progress had seemed like such an easy mission – check in on a settlement that had gone dark, take out anything that was causing trouble – that sort of thing.

And that’s exactly what she had done.

She’d gone down to that planet with Garrus and Grunt in tow, her trusted friend and their newest baby krogan, to save the day.

It had taken them a good chunk of time to figure out the cause of the silence in the colony and even less time to fix it – with the help of a powerful weapon some careless Collector had left behind. Just as she was about to head back to the Normandy she’d heard a familiar voice, a voice from her past, a voice that made things quiver down her body. She turned, knowing who she would see.

Kaiden.

She couldn’t stop the smile that had curled across her face, the slight tinge in her cheeks, seeing her lover again. Her Kaiden. Her first. Her confidant.

But the smile had slowly started to die as she listened to the man that she’d loved started ripping in to her. She sensed, more than saw, Garrus and Grunt step up behind her, giving her unspoken support as she stood her ground, refusing to let the tears fall even as she felt the tremor in her bottom lip.

She watched as Kaiden’s lip curled in disgust, shaking his head before turning on his heel and leaving her there, standing in the middle of a deserted colony. She was able to keep it together until they got back into their shuttle, but as soon as the door shut behind them she was grateful for the close proximity of Garrus as she felt her knees buckle. The turian quickly pulled her to him, holding her tight as she broke down in his arms, shaking against his chest and sobbing. Garrus knew how much Kaiden had meant to Abbie, how much she cared for him and how many firsts she had given him – he knew how much she was hurting. Grunt wasn’t sure what to make of his battlemaster acting in such a way, but he decided to not say anything, instead turning to speak to the pilot of the shuttle, murmuring something about taking the more scenic route back to the Normandy.

~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Aie stood quiet as the Illusive Man congratulated her on the mission to Freedom’s Progress, feeling empty and hollow as he spoke of Collector’s and more dossiers. Instead of replying to anything he had asked about Kaiden and their mission, she sighed and just bowed her head as she stepped out of the grid that was projecting her image at him. She heard her omni-tool pip with the new files and skimmed through them halfheartedly.

Illium.

 _Why not?_ She thought, her fingers flashing as she typed in a request to Joker to fly to the coordinates she was sending him, _nothing else to do but keep going. **[1]**Che sara sara, yes **[2]**Nonna?_

With a quick rub against her tired eyes, she started to head down to the armory to suit up before they arrived at their newest destination.

~*~*~*~*~*~ 

As soon as she stepped foot off the Normandy, the first thoughts that sprang to mind about Illium was that it was absolutely humongous. The lights and sounds of the bustling planet were similar to the Citadel or Omega – but much cleaner and orderly.

Within the first few hours of their arrival, they’d helped out Gianna Parasini with an issue with an asari smuggler and had sent Conrad Verner on his way to annoy somebody else in the galaxy – she’d also hugged Liara so tightly she was convinced the tall asari had turned a darker shade of blue.

They were now on their way to the Dantius towers, hoping to catch an assassin before he disappeared from the scene of his hopeful crime. “Dantius…Dantius…why does that sound familiar, Garrus?” she asked, looking over at him as they approached the building via taxi. Garrus arched a cranial ridge at her and chuckled low in his throat, “You killed her sister, remember? The one that had been supposedly ‘taken by slavers’?” he replied, using air quotes. Abbie squinted at him before realization dawned on her, “Oh! That horrid little asari we met on the Citadel? Who paid us off and tried to pull the innocent card?” The turian nodded in response. “Maybe we should slow down and let this Thane Krios take care of her,” she muttered.

Hearing this, the purple asari that was driving quickly turned and looked at her, “You’re not serious, are you?” Seryna asked quickly before turning to look at where she was driving - which turned out to be leveling the taxi in front of the still in-progress Dantius building. “ _Cio che Dio vuole, lo voglio,”_ Abbie said with a small shrug as the door opened and she slipped out. The confused asari looked at Garrus questioningly as the phrase didn’t translate. “ ‘What God wills, I will’,” Grunt replied, surprising both the asari and the turian as he followed Shepard out of the taxi. He turned to look at the baffled faces and chuckled, “If your battlemaster speaks the language of her people, you learn the language of your battlemaster – the tank taught me how to speak Sheperd’s Italian,” he explained with a grunt before wandering off after the petite brunette.

Garrus turned and looked at Seryna with wide eyes and gave her a shrug before following.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It took longer than she would’ve wanted to climb through the tower, but there was so much to piece together that it was mind boggling. The Blue Suns were crawling all over the place, making it difficult to be quiet and stealthy – which was what you needed if you were trying to catch an assassin.

They’d also rescued a handful of employees that had been locked away for their safety – and that wasn’t her trying to guess – the salarians that ran for freedom told her of their savior. Of the strange man that had pushed them into random closets or offices and locked the door so they wouldn’t become cannon fodder. “Should we arrest this guy or give him a basket of muffins?” Abbie muttered as she watched the latest group of frightened workers run for the exits.

“Muffins. Definitely muffins,” Garrus replied, picking through a first aid station and pocketing the extra medi-gel.

“Chocolate ones, with those nuts made from walls,” Grunt added with a nod and a hungry grin.

“They’re called walnuts Grunt, they’re not made from actual walls,” Abbie chuckled, shaking her head as they continued on their way.

~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Within a few seconds of listening to Nassana talk, Abbie remembered everything about her and why she didn’t like this particular asari. So hot headed. So paranoid.

She flicked her eyes over Nassana’s shoulder as a shadow dropped from the air vent.

So dead.

It was over in moments, bodies dropping like flies, and before she knew it Nassana was laid out across her desk with her hands clasped over her chest in death. Abbie waited to see if Thane, assuming this was Thane, would speak first – looking over at Garrus, then to Grunt, before affixing the praying drell with her curious stare.

“Impressive. You certainly know how to make an entrance,” Garrus remarked, nodding his approval.

Abbie slowly walked closer to the desk and was about to introduce herself, but the drell lowered his steepled hands slightly and caught her in his dark eyes, causing her to stop quickly, stumbling over her words.

The setting sun peaked through the opened blinds, shining golden red light over his green scales. It soaked into the blackness of his jacket and etched each dip and swirl of his frills into Abbie’s memory as if it was chiseled in stone. His eyes were black with swirls of an even darker green, a deeper black than was possible beyond those, like she was looking into an emerald infused black hole.

She swallowed, shaking herself before she did something stupid.

“I was hoping to talk to you,” she murmured, trying to break the silence carefully, as if being too loud would cause this mystery man to disappear as quickly as he’d appeared.    

He blinked those deep eyes at her, and then refocused his attention on the cooling body of Nassana before him. “I apologize, but prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken,” he replied softly. Abbie could feel goosebumps travel down her arms at the sound of his voice, the pleasant low gravel that made her think of things she shouldn’t be thinking about a person that had dropped in on them like a murdering Santa Clause.

“She certainly was wicked,” she replied, clearing her throat in an effort to keep her voice steady.

The drell chuckled softly, shaking his head as he lifted his head to affix her with his gaze again, dropping his praying hands, one to his side and the other to re-holster the gun he’d laid on the desk near the asari he’d used it on, “Not for her, for me.”

“The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you, for instance. All this destruction…chaos…,” he said as he moved around the desk, approaching Abbie, his eyes moving over her form as if he was cataloguing everything he saw. From the deep purple camo of her armor, to her icy blue eyes behind her visor screen, to the scars that were still healing and the long dark hair that she had tied in a bun behind her head.  “I was curious to see how far you’d go to find me. Well, here I am,” he added, holding his hands out at his sides for a moment, letting Abbie take in what she could just as he had.

He stood taller than she did by at least half a foot, his clothing tight and form-fitting, deep green scales covering him from head to – from what she could guess – toe. His hands were similar to hers, though his ring and middle fingers were fused on both of them. Her eyes lowered, taking in his coat that expertly hid his gun, down his legs and to his boots, then snapped back up to meet his eyes as she realized that she was being quite rude and staring. _Nonna wouldn’t approve of staring,_ she thought.

“How did you know I was coming at all?” she asked.

He gave a slight shrug, “I didn’t,” he replied, walking around her and approaching Garrus, taking in the rifle that the turian still had trained on him, “Not until you marched into the front door and started shooting,” he added.

Abbie turned, watching him as the drell sized up her companions, trying to ignore how _just_ form fitting his pants were against his legs and backside.

“Nassana had become paranoid,” he turned and looked at Abbie, waving a hand absently at the bodies behind the desk, “You saw the strength of her guard force. She believed one of her sisters would kill her. You,” he paused, letting his eyes move down her body again, slower than previously, “were a valuable distraction,” he finished with a sly grin.

Abbie could feel her face heating up and said a short prayer of thanks for the red sunset that was already spread across the room, “Let’s cut to the chase. I need you for a mission.”

“Indeed?” he chuckled with an inquisitive tone and an arched eyebrow ridge.

“You’re familiar with the Collectors?”

“By reputation,” he replied, walking around her once again. Abbie had just enough time to shift out of his way, but not before she saw his fingers lightly brush over one of the guns that were strapped to her hip.

She folded her arms across her chest in an effort to regain composure, fixing the back of his head with a stare that had made men falter in the past, “They’re abducting entire human colonies. Freedom’s Progress was their handiwork.”

She saw his back stiffen slightly, his head bowing, “I see.”

“We’re going after them.”

Hearing this, he quickly turned to look at her, “Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so,” he retorted – though Shepard could almost swear she detected a tinge of hope in his voice.

She arched an eyebrow at him, lowering her hands to her hips, “They told me it was impossible to get to Ilos, too,” she retorted with a grin.

Thane returned her smile, dipping his head minutely, “A fair point. You’ve built a career on performing the impossible,” he chuckled, turning towards the desk so he could look at the setting sun. Abbie walked up next to him, settling in beside him as he continued talking in a low voice, “This was to be my last job.” He looked over at her with sad eyes, “I’m dying,” he sighed, “low survival odds don’t concern me. The abduction of your colonists does.”

Abbie felt her heart tighten in her chest, hoping that she’d misheard him in some way, that the drell had a different meaning of the phrase ‘I’m dying’, “I…I hadn’t heard that. Is there…is there anything I can do?” she asked in a stammer, her strength shaken by his admission.

A small smile curled his lips as he took in her emotional reactions, “Giving me this opportunity is enough. The universe is a dark place. I’m trying to make it brighter before I die. Many innocents died today,” he murmured, shifting his weight quietly as he turned to face her, “I wasn’t fast enough, and they suffered. I must atone for that. I will work for you Shepard, no charge,” he finished, holding out his hand. Abbie didn’t even hesitate to place her hand in his, giving him a firm handshake, “It’s a pleasure to have you aboard Thane, I’m Abernathy – but my friends call me Abbie.”

“Abbie,” Thane replied with a smile, brushing his thumb over her fingers as he squeezed her hand, bowing his head slightly.

As he pulled his hand away and turned to leave, following Grunt, Abbie fell in step behind them, shoulder to shoulder with Garrus. “I don’t remember Kaiden making you tongue tied when you first met,” the turian chuckled, nudging her with his elbow. She turned to look at him with feigned shock before he tapped on his visor, her vitals running across them quickly. Sighing, she shook her head and went to follow their newest recruit, “Kaiden who?”

**Author's Note:**

> [1] Italian – What is to be, will be
> 
> [2] Italian - Grandmother


End file.
